Identification of novel mutations of Insulin Receptor Substrate 1 (IRS1) in tumor samples of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): Implications for aberrant insulin signaling in development of cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death, and NSCLC constitutes nearly 85%–90% of all cases. The IRS proteins function as adaptors and transmit signals from multiple receptors. Upon binding of insulin to the insulin receptor (IR), IRS1 is phosphorylated at several YXXM motifs creating docking sites for the binding of PI3Kp85, which activates AKT kinase. Therefore, we thought that gain of function mutantions of IRS1 could be related to development of lung cancer. In line with this, we wanted determine whether the IRS1 gene was mutated in the coding regions surrounding YXXM motifs. We sequenced the coding regions surrounding YXXM motifs of IRS1 using tumor samples of 42 NSCLC patients and 40 matching controls and found heterozygote p.S668T mutation in nine of 42 samples and four of nine also had the p.D674H mutation. We generated IRS1 expression vectors harboring p.S668T, p.D674H and double mutants. Expression of the mutants differentially affected insulin-induced phosphorylation of IRS1, AKT, ERK, and STAT3. Also, our mutants induced proliferation, glucose uptake, inhibited the migration of 293T cells and affected the responsiveness of the cells to cisplatin and radiation. Our results suggest that these novel mutations play a role in the phenotype of lung cancer.